E3 2018: What Exactly Is Origin Access Premier And Is It For You?

During EA’s E3 2018 conference, or EA Play 2018, the company broke the news surrounding their new service; Origin Access Premier. And while a bunch of information was shouted to everyone who watched the show. Not all of it actually explained what this new service is and what it means to you, the gamers and consumers. So let’s break this down and see who this is aimed at.

What is Origin Access Premier?

While EA already had a service called EA Access (Xbox One) / Origin Access (PC), this gives gamers access to 10-hour trials of new/upcoming games. In addition, it gives access to games that were put into EA’s vault. Two which you’re acting renting those full games for the duration of your membership. Should that subscription ever lapse, you lose access to it all.

Enter Origin Access Premier, which has bits and pieces of the EA /Origin Access, but more. This is a new subscription service that will cost you $15 per month or $100 per year. Sure, that’s a $10 increase from EA / Origin Access, but it has its merits. For starters, you’ll get still get access to new games ahead of everyone else. However, you’ll get access to the full game. No more of that 10-hour trial nonsense. This includes the big names that are releasing later this year; Madden 19, Battlefield V, Anthem, and FIFA 19.

In addition to this all, EA is also working on a cloud-based gaming subscription service. A while back we reported that EA had purchased some technology from Gamefly. Mainly the technology that allows them to stream their games, which led mainly to believe that EA was working on their own cloud-based gaming. While the company refused to talk about their plans then, we speculated that they were saving that announcement for E3 2018. Well, here we are – surprise! There really isn’t much to say about this new service, other than EA is still working on the details on it. Expect to hear more about this later this year.

Will Origin Access Premier be for you? Well, that’s really up to you. If you already have Origin Access and enjoy getting access to EA’s games ahead of time, but don’t like the 10-hour limit. Then this could be for you. Obviously, if you weren’t already sold on Origin Access, there isn’t much here to change your mind either.

No word if this new subscription service will provide a discount, like Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass does, if you purchase the full game afterward. Or if game saves will transfer, but I think that’s a given.

So that’s EA’s Origin Access Premier. Are you looking forward to you or do you think it’s a waste of cash? Let us know in the comments!

About The Author

Keith Mitchell is the Founder and Editor in Chief of The Outerhaven. A grizzled IT professional during the day, but a passionate lover of video games after his 9-5 grid. Loves playing the Dark Souls series and has been gaming since he was 6 years old. Available for podcasts upon request.